2/11/06
Herbert Ross's 1975 film production of Neil Simons play The Sunshine Boys is one of the funnier movies I've seen in a while. Simons dialogue is witty as usual and all the stronger for being delivered by the expert comics who appear in the film. Willy Clark (Simon favorite Walter Matthau) and Al Lewis (George Burns) were legendary vaudeville comics who as 'the Sunshine Boys' , who had a 43 year career together based mostly on the success of their famed 'Doctor Sketch' (though they also did a Gypsy chiropractor sketch). Now 12 years into retirement Willys nephew/agent Ben (Richard Benjamin) has a chance to re-unite the two for an ABC Network special on the history of comedy, the only problem is that each member of the famed duo hates the other. That basic premise pretty much sets you up for the whole hour and fifty-one minute movie. The pictures is quite funny and per Simon rules has more then a little bit of heart. George Burns won the best supporting actor Oscar for his role as the teams straight man, though Matthau arguably gave a more memorable performance (he however had already won an Oscar for Billy Wilders 1966 comedy The Fortune Cookie). A young Ron Rifkin and F. Murray Abraham also have small roles in the film.
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